CHESTER -- Until two Fridays ago, John's Doggie Shop had been a fixture on the 100 block of E. Seventh Street since 1948.

With zero notice, the hot dog eatery founded by Greek immigrants John and Angie Eleutheiou was shuttered March 1, leaving fans of their legendary chili dogs with a hole in their hearts and a rumbling in their bellies.

"My friend and I walked by here today and saw the sign and we couldn't believe it," David Downes of Upper Chichester said Monday while standing outside the abandoned weiner bistro at 111 E. Seventh Street. "I just ate here with my daughter about a month ago and there was a nice little crowd of people. I didn't hear anything about it being in trouble."

A sign hanging in the front window at John's read: "We want to thank all our friends and customers for the past 65 years. Visit us at our location at 525 Conchester Highway next to the Wawa."

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The abrupt closing reportedly came as a surprise to just about everyone, including family members of John's most recent owner, Efrain Santana, and the man he bought the building and business from, Pete Eleutheiou, John and Angie's son.

"It was totally unexpected," said George Eleutheiou, Pete's son and owner of the Conchester location. "We knew he was struggling but this came out of nowhere. I guess a man gets frustrated and gets to the point where he's had enough, but you still don't expect something like this."

Santana had been running the business for more than a decade.

"He had been working there since he was 13 years old and wanted to run the business," George Eleutheiou said. "It just didn't work."

Pete Eleutheiou got the news on the day of the closing while making one of his regular visits to the business.

"(Santana) handed my dad the keys and the contract, threw up his hands and said, 'I'm done!'" George Eleutheiou said, adding that his father put the "thank you" sign in the window, replacing one that said the business was closed for renovations.

Reached Tuesday, Pete Eleutheiou declined to comment.

"It's not a good time," he said.

Attempts to reach Santana were not successful and a listed phone number in his name was not taking messages.

According to county records, the limited liability company M Santana LLC purchased the E. Seventh Street building from Pete Eleutheiou in 2009 for $77,000.

The address listed for the company, in the 3500 block of Boothwyn Road, Upper Chichester, is Efrain Santana's former home. The property was acquired by a bank for $1 last September.

George Eleutheiou said he had not spoken to Santana since John's closing and did not know where he was living.

On Monday afternoon, a handful of customers walked up to John's, read the sign, and commented on the end of an era.

"That's not right," said one man with a police badge hanging from a chain around his neck. "This is a Chester landmark."

John and Angie Eleutheiou purchased the Texas Lunch hot dog stand at Seventh and Welsh streets in 1948. Ten years later, having outgrown the stand's 8x16 footprint, they moved the business into a vacant store next door. That 11-stool establishment gave way to the 54-seat cafeteria-style restaurant at 111 E. Seventh Street in 1978.

In their heyday, the Eleutheious were selling their famous franks and secret chili sauce out of six locations in three states, including stands in Wilmington, Del. and Wildwood Crest, N.J.

In 1972, the Chester location alone - fueled by shift workers at Scott Paper, Sun Shipbuilding & Dry Dock and the like - was dishing out 24,000 Medford dogs a month at 25-cents a pop.

Today, only the Conchester Highway location remains.

"I worked at Scott Paper for 20 years and my father worked there, too and a lot of the people there would eat here," Downes said. "The food at the (Upper Chichester) location is very good but this is where I had my first Johnny's dog and this is where my father took us when we were kids. I have a lot of memories of coming here and walking around a bustling downtown."

Another John's regular, Norwood Mayor George McCloskey, was disheartened to learn of John's demise.

"I'm sorry to hear that," he said. "You hate to see anything go under and it kind of surprises me. Whenever (District Judge) Pete Tozer and I would go down there it seemed like it was very prosperous or at least had a steady stream of people coming and going."

McCloskey said the sauce introduced by John Eleutheiou, who was raised in a small mountain village on a Greek island in the Aegean Sea, is one of a kind.

"You can get a hot dog anywhere but you can't get the sauce anywhere," he said.

With its signature orange decor and signage, John's Doggie Shop will likely be sold along with the two apartments above it.

And while the family may have served their last dog with "the works" in Chester, George Eleutheiou still expects to spend his Sundays on East Seventh Street for the foreseeable future dicing onions and mixing 60-gallon batches of secret sauce for his customers in Upper Chichester.